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vivekchandra007
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The Matrix Resurrections (2021)
6/10 first watch. 10/10 on second watch
I am a big Matrix nerd. Watched it as soon as it came, in 2021 and just felt meh about it. So much mumbo jumbo, new faces, bad actors from Sense8, only Lana directed this, bla bla bla.
Now, in April 2024, I decided to give it a second watch, with no baggage of expectations and Woah! This movie blew me this time, just the OG The Matrix one did. The story is so "meta", nobody could have imagined. The whole notion of "What is real, how do u define real", how will machines upgrade themselves against potential Neo(s), how does it feel to be inside being Matrix for a long long time. The point is about Neo and Trinity, entangle so much together that it doesn't makes sense to keep them separated, instead have them as each others doomed love, a flick from their dreams, a deva vu of work place memories. Yeah, machines would definitely do that. Loved it.
Now, the acting part was phenomenally by new Smith and The Analyst (NPH nailed it). Rest were okayish. The jealousy angle of that girl wo revived Neo and later not wanting Trinity to come back was shown good.
The ending scene of Analyst, Trinity and Neo is damn witty with so much of social commentary.
Adipurush (2023)
OTT release review - worse than what theatrical release had reviews
600 Cr. Is too much unless Prabhas and other cast took like 500 Cr in fees and they were left with just 100 Cr for music, VFX, promotion, etc.
But if they really spent 600 Cr and produced this crappy CGI and effect, either inka popat bana or there is some serious money laundering involved and it must be audited.
Like, itna bekar VFX kaiiiiiise ho sakta hai 😄
Coming to movie 🎥 , I will not even go into debate how they totally "ignored" the source material "Ramayan" or Bollywood is not intellectually capable to make Ramayan for big screen.
Let's assume they wanted to make their own "version" of it ...then also it had following problems:
1. Not much chemistry between Prabhas and Kriti. Yes, I say Prabhas ans Kriti coz they casually acted like themselves only, unlike Raghav and Janaki.
2. No consistency in motives and actions and even dialogues of characters
3. Not introducing characters, like for e.g. Angad (just one line about would have been fine though, keeping time constraint).
4. That Sonu ke titu ki sweety one as Laxman ji is just wasted on screen.
5. To utilise existing characters on screen 📺 in forwarding the story, they made Vibhishan ji's wife the one who tells about Sanjivani booti but why make her character unnecessarily glamorous or titillating.
6. Laxman ji asking and Hanuman ji answering WhatsApp jokes was real cringe.
The only saving grace are songs and music but we can watch them on YouTube 😁
#Adipurush once again proves why Bollywood is intellectually incapable to adapt our nation's ancient historical texts because they try to look at these texts from Hollywood's lens and thus can never be true to the heart and soul of these texts passed down through generations to us.
Only one who will let Prem and Bhakti lead the way will be able to retain the essence and adapt these texts beautifully, like how Ramanand Sagar ji did.
Clock (2023)
Multi layered gem, not so easy to understand
Well, for a man this movie is difficult to understand, let alone relate. 8 stars are for the unique content it tries to explore, with its horrors, which is common for modern working women. If something exists in Nature, it is natural and for a reason and doesn't need any fix, let with any side effects.
Ending is just flat apart from one very dark twist which keep watcher would have smelled from far off.
Amazing acting by the lead.
Don't at all go by the ratings as they don't justify this movie. This is also beautifully and intelligently shot. Have patience. Do give it a shot and a must watch.
Black Mirror: Loch Henry (2023)
Ideally what the "Black Mirror" has always been about
People seeing no sci-fi gadget or tech or mumbo jumbo have not been following Black Mirror enough. BM has always been a social criticism of the impact tech has on everyday people. This time in episode 2, Loch Henry has been about humongous content on OTT platforms catering to needs of "bored" people, binge watching content on these platforms. Thus it is breeding a new crop of indie-filmmakers, ready to set themselves apart and shoot films in various genres like "true crimes", which do get them popular but at the expense of a victim or some (now) reformed person (by digging out his/ her past), which sometimes may not be worth it. Some skeletons should remain in the closet. A lot of times, this (views) fame comes at a personal cost.
This episode is also a social commentary on how production houses are insensitive to content and just look for view count.
As for this episode, it is very scenic and chilling at the same time. Awesome cinematography and great work with creating a chilling atmosphere. It will sometimes feel like some jump scares are waiting at corner.
But overall a very good watch and rewatch (with added insights).
Spoiler: I feel the guy who owned the bar and his father and his (expired) mother, all knew about Dave's family but didn't had any proof. His used Dave to bring the limelight back to his town and his bar.
Los renglones torcidos de Dios (2022)
Brilliant KeepGuessing thriller in a loooong while
First of all it is a must watch for all Pyschiatrists doctors. A professional lesson for junior ones. The protagonist's character is so well written, exceptionally acted, so nuanced that the audience will doubt and test their own sanity many times while watching this, until the end. They will formulate their own theories which will be validated too and hence they will consider it as truth but it will Many times, it is just one small truth and multiple layers of logical inferences that we take as completely proved truth.
You won't regret it's long run time. Don't read spoiler reviews and much opinions, just go watch this.
Gehraiyaan (2022)
Bloody awesome movie. Go spiralling down into the "deep"
Truth is this movie actually caught me off guard. Even before having started the movie I formed a perception and knew it would be no more than same old typical pseudo-modern tale, by bolly-folks who "think" they know the millennials, glamorising adultery (just for cheap publicity) and will actually not talk about how it may affect others too i.e. A very shallow take on this topic and will not delve "deep" into human psyche .... But, boy, I was so wrong, so bloody wrong...it actually justified its title and took viewers into a spiralling journey deep into the trenches of human psyche where a person's demons exist, where their fears breed and insecurities brew. It explores basic human desire of being happy, especially thinking achieving a certain thing will bring them that happiness and not valuing what they already have.
First half is just okay and It has got a lot of un-necessary intimate scenes which after a point seem monotonous and don't serve the story. It shines in the later half. Obviously some plot holes do exist but it ends really good, tying all open threads, even those which we didn't even knew were open.
Maanaadu (2021)
Half witted fiction movie trying to bank on the concept of Time Loop
We can't even call it a science fiction because there is no "science" any where in the movie. Even a major event scene "Groundhog hog day" -> "CM Rally" ...
4 stars are only for at least trying it, but if I wanted to see same GHD or EdgeOfTomorrow, I will watch the original ones.
Wonder Woman 1984 (2020)
Watch it like a chick flick or an average from com
Only appreciable new actor was Lynda Carter, appearing as Asteria (for a very brief 11 seconds). So graceful and such a pleasing smile, to help ke forget the extreme over acting by Pedro as Max Lord.
Too many lot holes.
Scam 1992: The Harshad Mehta Story (2020)
Outstanding in the stream of OTTs being churned out
Superb acting coupled with awesome cinematography, (rather retrography)
and thrilling background score, definitely makes it binge worthy. An absolute thrill ride. Indeed a must watch.
Mardaani 2 (2019)
A fast paced Social thriller with no dull moment
Amazing performance by the main antagonist. Very fast paced, superb editing with no dull moments. In the end, when, of course, the villain gets nabbed, one does feel the desire to continue hitting him as much as possible, which can only be made possible by the amount of hate the actor has been able to get from audience through his amazing acting. One doesn't feel a bit of sorry when he gets beaten publicly.
Specially, there are no songs to divert your mood and the anger one develops for the antagonist.
Rani Mukherjee was superb too and was able to portray the bias and hardship which even an officer may feel when still trying the make it accustomed to reporting to female boss.
Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom (2018)
Killed the soul of JP franchise
This movie ruined the whole JP franchise, took it to the Wrong Turn from where it may never recover. There is nothing intelligent/ SCI FI about it, it has become a senseless monster movie, with no thrills.
Spider-Man (2002)
It still holds up really well, after about 14 years
Saw it again, last night, after a long time and it still managed to catch my attention and I noticed such small (intrinsic) details embedded throughout the movie that it looks like Sam Raimi really spun an amazingly entertaining movie through strings of comic-web. One of the best origin stories that like an old wine, keeps getting better because it is laden with story, a soul that only gets more enlightened by CGI. Sam Raimi researched the material well and it shows, be it having some inside jokes, Easter eggs and how he got the hero got name. The first 30 minutes is simply the best "origin of origin", a superhero flick has shown till date. Best thing is he got so much comfortable with it that he made even amazing second part (one of the best sequels till date) (tied up with T2) but still nothing beats an origin story because it shows "Even you can be".
Sense8 (2015)
Return of the
I was putting it off for quite some time due to recent disasters from the Wachowskis but got driven by Sense8's novel theme and just now finished watching it. I couldn't resist myself writing review as its all fresh in my memory (at 5 AM). It starts of very good, has some nice build up, daily struggle and interactions & good chemistry among all of its sensates (8 ppl are not less). What I really liked was that each character, had its own set of skills and how that was utilized, while not neglecting or specially highlighting any particular person. In the mid episodes, it sort of becomes boring or preachy. I can understand coz ample time must be given to audience to relate to characters and know his/ her skills and weaknesses through a lot of philosophical, literary, artistic and religious references. I personally liked them, even though deviating from story but it made me ponder over such themes. Wachowskis do that, always :) Its only towards the last 3 episodes (actually 2) that real story starts to unfold and we see group dynamism among full cluster. I liked finale. It was nothing extraordinary or complex but right mixture of chemistry, humor and beautiful landscapes. The overall story has paced now and I would be really interested to know how it shapes in Season 2. Now that they know their true potential, lets see how sensates prove to have been evolved over us (Homo Sapiens).
Jupiter Ascending (2015)
Good writing and direction, marred by pathetic acting
Well, JA is not that bad as I had expected before watching it, thanks to bad word of mouth. It is bad, of course but mainly in the acting department and this took a toll on the complete movie. Biggest failure is that both of the lead fail to connect and empathize with audience, they fail miserably at living out the written character. To me the writing was actually good. Few scenes could have really uplifted the movie, if rightly done like the emotional dilemma Jupiter suffers while accepting the marriage proposal and the huge setback she suffers when gets to know the truth. Finally, it is a one time watch, mainly because its coming from The Wachowski brothers (now, Siblings :))
Shaan (1980)
One of the gem of India cinema
This is my first review on IMDb after being almost a decade long patron of it. I had seen Shaan a lot of times on TV, since my childhood. But it was very recently that it was again coming on TV that I realized its true worth.
Coming to the film, its a very well made, long, big-budgeted, multi-starer, total blockbuster entertainment-action movie, though not being a typical bollywood one. Its a movie of international standards (of that time). It was directed by Ramesh Sippy after basking in the super-success of Sholay. So, like "John Hammond", he "spared no expense" :) Even some very short scenes were made with an eye for detail. Its sets were humongous and like bond flick, specially the don's den. Its direction is brilliant and Ramesh Sippy has really shown his great filmmaking skills, which only could have been done, with ample budget and no creative restrictions.
Even the music is somewhat different than typical bollywood movie. It creates right atmosphere and tension, well suited to thriller genre. Sometimes,even silence is very well used to add to tension. Specially,I found one slow-mo scene and to my amazement they used right background score for it. Also, all the songs are great, specially Jaanu meri jaan and Yamma yamma, which are really evergreen. Well, of course there were a lot loopholes in script, scenes, etc but was a daring film of 1980, trying to match up with Bond flicks, and it surely reached up a great level.
Few exceptional scenes were Sunil Dutt's capture, chase and death (best), Abdul's death and the final climax.
Haunted - 3D (2011)
Decent movie.
It is a nice attempt by Vikram Bhatt. Good acting skills shown by lead actors. Story is different from regular horror movies and no beating about the bush is there. The central part of the movie is the emotion and pain of the actress. Thats is heard superbly in the track 'Sau baras guzre'. There aren't any superb extremely scary horror scenes. I feel the emotional part of the movie took over the horror part and scenes are loaded with emotions, if watched in true sense of a movie without any prior expectations related to the element of scare or horror. Overall, its a one-time watch movie. Enjoy India's first stereoscopic 3D horror flick. This is my personal opinion about the movie. NOM to anyone.